Press Briefing by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on the President's Trip to Europe
James S. Brady Briefing Room

4:03 P.M. EST

MR. HADLEY: Good afternoon. On Sunday, President and Mrs. Bush will
depart for Europe, with stops in Belgium, Germany and the Slovak Republic.
The trip provides a great opportunity for the President to meet with some
of America's oldest and closest friends and allies. It's also an
opportunity, as the President said this morning, to reaffirm the importance
of the transatlantic link for dealing with the challenges that America and
Europe both face.

The President looks forward to his conversations with European leaders. We
have shared values and principles, as well as a common agenda, and there
are many opportunities before us to make the world safer, healthier, more
prosperous and free. And so the United States and Europe have the
responsibility and the opportunity to work together to address these common
challenges.

Among these challenges are finding new ways to support the new governments
of Iraq and Afghanistan, advancing an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, and
spreading freedom and democracy to parts of the world that have known too
little of both.

I'll outline the President's schedule, and then would be pleased to take
some questions.

The President and Mrs. Bush will depart for Brussels, Belgium on Sunday,
February 20th, arriving that evening. The President will start his
meetings the next day, Monday, February 21st, paying a courtesy call to his
hosts, Their Majesties King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium. The
President will then meet with Prime Minister Verhofstadt of Belgium,
followed by a meeting with NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer.

On Monday afternoon, the President will deliver a speech at the Concert
Noble. The speech will focus on his vision of a united transatlantic
community, working together to promote freedom and democracy, particularly
in the broader Middle East. The speech will build upon the President's
inaugural address and State of the Union remarks. It will be an
opportunity for him to communicate directly with the people of Europe, and
will show America's desire to work in partnership with Europe, based on
common values, to advance the cause of freedom.

On Monday evening, President Bush and President Chirac, of France, will
meet for a working dinner.

On Tuesday, February 22nd, the President will begin his day with a
breakfast with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, and then he
will proceed to NATO Headquarters. Upon arriving at NATO, the President
will meet with Ukrainian President Yuschenko. President Bush will then
participate in a NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting, followed by a bilateral
meeting with Prime Minister Berlusconi, of Italy.

Also on Tuesday morning, the President will participate in a meeting and
luncheon with the NATO heads of state and government, and will participate
in a press availability with the NATO Secretary General.

On Tuesday afternoon, the President will meet for the first time since the
EU's historic enlargement with the now 25 member states of the European
Council. He will hold a joint press availability with European Council
President Prime Minister Juncker, European Commission President Barroso,
and High Representative of the European Union Javier Solana.

That evening, President Bush will participate in a working dinner with the
three representatives of the EU just named, namely Mssrs. Juncker, Barroso
and Solana.

On Wednesday, February 23rd, the President and Mrs. Bush will depart
Brussels, Belgium for Frankfurt, Germany. Upon arriving in Frankfurt and
proceeding to Mainz, Germany, the President and Chancellor Schr der will
greet American and German soldiers that served in Afghanistan. The two
leaders will then meet, followed by a joint press availability. The
Chancellor and Mrs. Schr der will then host a lunch for the President and
Mrs. Bush.

On Wednesday afternoon, the President will participate in a roundtable
conversation with German citizens, followed by a visit to the Gutenberg
Museum with Mrs. Bush. After the visit to the museum, the President and
Mrs. Bush will depart Mainz for Wiesbaden, Germany, where they will have
the privilege of meeting with members of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored
Division.

After meeting with and addressing the troops, the President and Mrs. Bush
will depart for the Slovak Republic.

On Thursday, February 24th, the President will meet with President
Gasparovic, and later with Prime Minister Dzurinda of the Slovak Republic.
On Thursday morning, the President and Prime Minister Dzurinda will have
the unique opportunity to meet with the Champions of Freedom, individuals
from Central and Eastern Europe who are on the forefront of advancing the
cause of freedom in that region. The President will pay his respects to
those veterans of the struggle for freedom, as well as encourage those who
continue to struggle for freedom and democracy today. The President then
will deliver remarks to Slovak citizens in Bratislava's town square.

On Thursday afternoon, the President will meet with Russian President
Putin, followed by a joint press availability.

On Thursday evening, the President and Mrs. Bush will depart the Slovak
Republic and return to Washington, D.C.

That's the schedule as it stands now. If there are any changes, the Press
Office will notify you. I'd be glad to take any questions.

Q Can you say how direct the President is going to be when he talks to
Vladimir Putin about the retreat from democracy in Russia? And what are
the President's concerns there?

MR. HADLEY: Well, we've -- as you know, the President has a good
relationship, good personal relationship with President Putin. We've been
able to solve some problems and work together, the United States and
Russia, in areas of counter-proliferation, counterterrorism. We're working
together in terms of the six-party talks in North Korea, in terms of
advancing Middle East peace.

The President, in prior conversations, has emphasized to President Putin
the importance of the principles of freedom and democracy, and his view
that the United States wants to broaden and deepen its relationship with
Russia, and to have that relationship reach its full maturity, Russia needs
to progress along on the course of democracy and freedom, for the good of
the relationship and, obviously, for the good of the Russian people. And
I'm sure that will be a topic of conversation, as well.

Q Will he say that he's concerned that Russia is not making the progress
the United States would like to see?

MR. HADLEY: There clearly have been some developments recently that have
raised some questions and concerns, and I'm confident the President will
discuss them with President Putin.

Q Stephen, European officials see a real opportunity to turn a corner
here in U.S.-European relations. Does the President see it the same way?

MR. HADLEY: Yes, he does, and I think he was clear on that today. The --
he reaffirmed today in his comments with many of you the importance of the
transatlantic relationship towards meeting the challenges that the United
States and Europe face in the 21st century. I think we are knit together
by a common set of principles and a common set of values, and the President
sees very much the opportunity for the United States and Europe to work
together to advance the freedom agenda, which the President has talked
about in his State of the Union and in his inaugural address.

There's a lot more that we share with the Europeans in terms of common
principles, common values, and a common approach to problems. And I think
what you'll see is the United States and Europe working together to develop
a common agenda, going forward.

Q Stephen, when Secretary Rice was over there and met with the NATO
Secretary General, he spoke specifically about new steps that NATO could
take, and that he was optimistic that NATO would take, not only in the
future training of Iraqi security forces outside of Iraq, but inside Iraq;
also setting up a new fund and garnering new financial contributions in
order to help transport equipment and other things into the Iraqi security
force and the Iraqi military. Is that something that the President is
likely to get some new assurances on when he's in Europe?

MR. HADLEY: We clearly want to see this as an opportunity for the United
States and Europe to identify ways in which we can support the new Iraqi
government. And I think that will be a subject for his conversations, not
only in NATO, but also in terms of the EU. NATO, of course as you know,
already has a training mission that is going on in Baghdad. There are
also members of NATO who are doing training outside the country. The
Germans, for example, are doing training in UAE. So there will be a
question about whether there can be an expansion of those training
activities. Certainly, that would be an item of discussion with NATO.

In terms of the EU, there will be a new government in Baghdad, and one of
the questions is how can the EU and the United States work together to
support that government. Developing confidence, developing ministries that
can deliver the better life that the Iraqi people want is a new -- a huge
challenge for this new government. And I think there will be some
discussions about how the United States and Europe can work together
towards supporting that new government as it organizes itself and then
deals with a staggering set of problems.

Q But in terms of concrete assurances, or specifics, we know that
there's not going to be any specific communiqu or anything like that, but
the NATO Secretary General said specifically when Secretary Rice was there
that he thought -- wanted to have specific commitments from the 26 NATO
members in some form, either through training or financial contributions by
the time of Bush's visit. Is that something that's going to happen?

MR. HADLEY: Certainly, it's something that they've talked about. And
there's a huge amount of progress already made, because, as you know, a
number of NATO countries -- in fact, the vast majority of NATO countries
are already, in one form or another, supporting this effort. So I would
expect that you will see that set fill out.

And in terms of the EU side, this new government -- the Iraqi government
certainly faces its challenges, but, of course, it has an enormous
advantage: It is now elected by the Iraqi people in a very -- in an
election which over 8 million showed up. So the new Iraqi government has
an enormous opportunity. And I think the question on the U.S. and the EU
side is how to help the Iraqi government take advantage of that opportunity
to really bring democracy, freedom and stability to the country.

Q Are we likely to see a course of action emerge on Syria, on how to
increase pressure on Syria from all the meetings the President has?

MR. HADLEY: Well, I think events in Syria have brought it to the fore. As
you remember, in September there was U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559
that focused on the issue of Lebanon -- the continued Syrian occupation of
Lebanon -- a call for those forces to leave and for the international
community to support free and fair elections in Lebanon. So that's an
issue that has gotten some attention.

Obviously, the activity Syria has been engaged in, in supporting some of
the former regime elements that have been contributing to the violence in
Iraq, is something else that's gotten international attention. The Iraqi
interim government has focused on that problem. And now, all the countries
in the region clearly have an interest in seeing an Iraq emerge that is
stable and at peace with its neighbors. So that will, clearly, be a
subject.

And, of course, the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri is a
troubling event, and you've had a President's resolution out of the U.N.
Security Council calling for an investigation of that event.

So I think there are a lot of things that will put Syria on the agenda.
And what Syria needs to do is pretty clear. They need to stop letting
their territory be used to support terrorists, not only in Iraq, but also
in the Middle East. They need to facilitate a free and fair election in
Lebanon. They need to take seriously the requirements of 1559 and restore
sovereignty to Lebanon.

So the things Syria needs to do are clear. And I think one of the things
the United States and Europe need to do is to send a clear message to Syria
that the winds of change are blowing in the Middle East in the direction of
fighting terror and greater freedom. And Syria is a -- is, in some sense,
an outlier, and it's time for Syria to take the right decisions and get in
step with the positive trends that are happening in the region.

Q Could you detail a little bit the President's agenda with -- in his
meeting with Yuschenko? And also, the President has announced more money
for the Palestinians. What do you hope the Europeans will commit to during
this visit in terms of furthering Middle East peace?

MR. HADLEY: Well, the -- in terms of meeting with Mr. Yuschenko, it will
be a fairly brief meeting. It's in advance of this -- you know, there is
an established NATO Ukraine Council, and this -- the NATO heads of
government -- state and government being in Brussels, we're using that as
an opportunity for a meeting of that council.

So I think the conversations that the President will have with President
Yuschenko will be fairly brief, and the focus will be on that meeting.
And, obviously, the message the United States and Europe want to send to
the Ukrainian people is a celebration for the election that they have
conducted and a support for the movement towards democracy that we've seen
going on there.

The second part of your question?

Q Just that the President has announced -- or has asked for more money
for the Palestinians.

MR. HADLEY: Yes.

Q What sort of concrete commitments are you looking for, for the
Europeans to promote Middle East peace?

MR. HADLEY: Well, we have a real opportunity going on -- presented to us
in the meeting in London on March 1, where various representatives of the
international community will meet with representatives of the Palestinian
Authority. And it's a real opportunity for the Palestinian Authority to
lay out their agenda for building democratic institutions for
reconstruction in the Palestinian Territories, for getting economic
activity back in those areas, and beginning to build the institutions of a
Palestinian state.

The President has made clear by the money he included in the supplemental
that we are prepared to make a financial contribution to that process. And
he will call on the Europeans and, indeed, the international community more
generally to make a similar contribution because he believes we really have
an enormous opportunity to help the Palestinian people start building the
institutions for a democratic state, which as you know, he believes is a
key towards final resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli issue. So it's a
real opportunity.

Q Steve, is the President planning any gestures to the Europeans on
global warming? Of course, this is an issue that has been raised again
with the Kyoto Treaty taking force this week.

MR. HADLEY: I think the agenda that the President and the European leaders
discuss will be a fairly broad one. Some of the subjects, obviously, we've
talked about here: the freedom agenda, what that means for Iraq;
Afghanistan; Middle East peace; obviously, the war on terror. But it's a
broad agenda we have with the Europeans, so I think there will be some
discussion about trade, about international economics, about what we can do
to pursue successful development in places like Africa and elsewhere. And
I think there'll be discussion of environmental issues, including pollution
and climate change. And I think the effort will be to find areas of common
ground.

The truth is there's a lot we are already doing with Europe in terms of
research in connection with climate change, in terms of developing
technologies that will dramatically reduce pollution and therefore make a
contribution to a positive direction on climate change. So I think there
is an opportunity to develop a common agenda not only between the United
States and Europe, but also, of course, to begin reaching out to some key
developing countries which will need to be part of this issue.

Q Many Europeans were reminded this week of their view that America has
gone its own way. It's an outcast on this issue. Does he not plan to take
advantage of this forum to do something to try and overcome that view?

MR. HADLEY: Well, I think actually there are a number of things that we
are doing with the Europeans, in terms of research and technology in the
way I described, and also beginning to do with developing countries.
Developing countries face an enormous dilemma: How can they have
prosperity and progress without sacrificing their environment? And this is
something where the United States and Europe can together help so that the
developing world doesn't have to make that hard choice -- that can advance
the cause of prosperity and at the same time respect their environment.

So there is actually a lot already going on between the United States and
Europe. I think you'll see coming out of this an expansion of that agenda.
So rather than going our own way, I think what we have done in some sense
is showing the way of how we can cooperate with Europe and developing
countries to really move on this agenda in an effective way. And that's
what I think we'll try to do.

Q Mr. Hadley, Iran -- the question of negotiations between Europe and
the Iranian government on suspending or eliminating their nuclear weapons
development program. How will that topic come up in Europe? And what can
the -- what can the President do to get the United States involved with
that diplomatic effort?

MR. HADLEY: Well, there's a lot of commonality between the United States
and Europe on Iran, a lot of consensus about what Iran needs to do. It
needs to give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Everybody is agreed on
that. It needs to stop its sponsorship of terror, particularly with
respect to the Palestinian areas and Hezbollah, because the activities of
those groups is very much in the way of the positive development, we hope,
between the Israeli and the Palestinians.

There is the treatment of their own people, which both we and the Europeans
have talked about and that Condi talked about in her press availability
with Chancellor Schr der. So it will come up in one sense because there's
a commonality on the agenda -- concern about Iran and a commonality about
what Iran needs to do.

We've actually been very much involved on the nuclear issue. You may
remember, this was managed for a long period of time in the IAEA Board of
Governors -- 35 members; we, of course, are part of that, and we've been in
active participation on that. It is true that the Europeans, the EU 3,
have taken the lead in the recent conversations with Iran that resulted in
the current agreement. We've been supportive of that effort -- the
President has been supportive of that effort, and we would continue to do
so. The real question, of course, is where we go on that arrangement, that
it is -- basically temporarily freezes their enrichment activities, and
what we need is a permanent cessation of their enrichment programs and any
reprocessing activity.

That's what the Europeans are trying to seek. And I think the question is
whether the Iranians are willing to go forward. And I think that's really
the next thing that we need to see, is something from the Iranians about a
willingness to go forward in the path that the EU 3 have described.

Q Can I follow up on that?

Q Would it be at the NATO Summit that the President would raise those
concerns and issues? Where would that come up?

MR. HADLEY: Well, I expect it will come up in a variety of discussions.
You know, in some sense it's -- in many respects, it's the same group of
players at NATO and at the EU, so I think it will come up probably in
different ways in both of those forums. My guess is it's probably more
likely to come up on the EU side.

Q I just wanted to follow up on the President's statements on Israel, in
relation to Iran, of course. What exactly constitutes a threat to Israel,
since there has been this verbal threat by the Ayatollah? And at what
point does the United States come to Israel's defense?

MR. HADLEY: Well, I think the reality is that virtually all the countries
in the region would view an Iran with nuclear weapons as a destabilizing
factor in the region. And that's, of course, where we don't want to go,
because that's a very difficult problem for all of us to manage. And
that's, of course, why we've been engaged with the IAEA Board of Governors;
that's why we have been supportive of the EU 3 effort, so that we don't
have to face that eventuality.

Q So the President said today he was hopeful that by the time he gets to
Europe he'll be able to talk somewhat about the culpability that Syria may
or may not have had in Monday's bombing. I'm wondering if you can tell us
that there's been a conclusion that, at a minimum, the Syrians knew, had
some advance notice of this, or anything you can share with us about the
progress of that investigation.

MR. HADLEY: We really don't know. The Lebanese authority are doing an
inquiry. The President's statement -- the U.N. Security Council
President's statement of earlier this week asked the Secretary General to
review and, in some sense, oversee these events and report back to the
Security Council. There may be efforts to expand the scope of the
investigation. I think we're at the early stages. We just don't really
know at this point.

Q Could you elaborate a little bit on how the President might enlist
France's help, with its special relationship in Lebanon, to contend with
Syria, and separately, how the President will deal with Mr. Putin and
Russia's planned sale of weapons to Syria?

MR. HADLEY: We've actually been very much involved with the French
government in connection with Lebanon. U.N. Security Council Resolution
1559 was really an example of a very good collaboration between the United
States, France, and other countries, as well. So it has been an area of
close collaboration between the two of us, and I think it will continue to
be so.

In terms of these reports of a Russian sale of SAM systems to Syria,
obviously, we have some concerns about it. Syria, of course, continues to
be on the list of countries that are state sponsors of terror. This is a
particular time of hope in the Middle East, and we don't want to do
anything that would destabilize the situation. So we have some concerns,
and we've raised them with the Russian government in an appropriate way.
And other countries have raised their concerns, as well. And we are
hopeful and confident that the Russians will take them into account.

Q Back to Iran for two quick questions. You say you're engaged with the
EU 3. I think there's a sense from their end that they would like to see
the United States do more, possibly get behind this idea of various
incentives and such. Do you envision that the President will offer any
sort of concrete support for that notion?

And secondly, Secretary Rice's comments about the totalitarian nature of
the Iranian regime, the loathsome nature of it, was that based on any sort
of new sense that you have of greater repression, or new intelligence on
that? Or can you give us -- shed some light on where those comments rank?

MR. HADLEY: I wouldn't accept your characterization of the comments she's
made. I mean, what -- the President has said for some time that we stand,
the American people stand on the side of those people in Iran who want
greater freedom and democracy. And there's no secret. That's something I
think we share with the Europeans, as well.

I think that in terms of the discussions that the EU 3 -- let me go back to
that. And some of the things that give us pause about that, of course, are
the last election for the Majilis, the efforts that were made to eliminate
candidates that were not acceptable to the Iranian government. There have
been some actions against opposition members, some actions against the
press, if you look back over this last six months to a year. So while
there's a trend in the region for greater freedom and democracy and
participation by people, unfortunately, the trends in Iran seem to be going
in the other way.

In terms of where the Europeans are in the discussion with the Iranians,
you know there is an ongoing discussion talking about the kinds of
opportunities that would be available to Iran to have expanded diplomatic,
economic and political ties if they were to permanently cease their uranium
enrichment program and give up any reprocessing. And the truth is you can
tell from the statements that have been made by the Iranian government, the
jury is out. We need to see where the Iranians are heading. That's the
next thing we need to see.

Q President Bush is the first American President who is going to
Slovakia. Can you elaborate more what will be his message for Slovaks in
Bratislava? And then I'm sure Slovak government and also EU will open
American visa policy. What can we expect from President Bush?

MR. HADLEY: Two things. One, obviously, he's coming with a message that
the United States and Europe have a common agenda to advance freedom and
democracy in the world. And it's -- the stop in the Slovak Republic is a
nice opportunity for the President to remind Europe and the rest of the
world of the progress we've made together in that part of the world. It's
also an opportunity to pay tribute to the people of the Slovak Republic and
also other countries in the region for the right choices they made in
pursuing democracy and freedom and making the hard choices that those
countries had to make as they moved out of communist regimes, and to really
celebrate the progress we've made, and to acknowledge those men and women
who were on the forefront of the cause of freedom in Central and Eastern
Europe. And hopefully, by acknowledging their contribution, give some hope
and support to those people who are advancing the cause of freedom
elsewhere in the world.

Q Your visa policy?

MR. HADLEY: Yes, there will clearly be discussions about that. You heard
a way forward that has been developed when the President met with President
Kwasniewski, of Poland. We think that kind of way forward ought to be
available to other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and would put
us on the road to putting the visa issue behind us.

MR. JONES: Time for one more.

MR. HADLEY: Yes, ma'am.

Q Sir, you talk a lot about common ground and commonality.

MR. HADLEY: Right.

Q And certainly, the United States and Europe have common goals in a lot
of areas, but isn't the problem that they have vastly different ideas about
how to achieve those goals? And I'm thinking specifically here of China,
Iran, and global warming. And do you expect any kind of resolution to come
out, any kind of common approach to come out of these meetings?

MR. HADLEY: I guess I wouldn't accept the proposition, vastly different,
in Iran. Actually, I think we have a fairly coordinated approach on Iran
with respect to the nuclear issue. We've worked very well in the IAEA
Board of Governors; we've been supportive of the EU 3 Initiative. So I
think, actually, we have a good convergence on the nuclear issues, and I
think it's important for us to continue our dialogue with Iran, to continue
to talk about their support for terror and other things.

Secondly, in terms of China, again, I think there is a lot of commonality
in terms of China. Obviously, we have -- we all have an interest in China
continuing to move in the direction of democracy and freedom and being a
constructive member of the international community. We have common
concerns about human rights. Yes, there is the issue of the EU arms
embargo, what to do about that. But I think it will be approached in a
very constructive spirit. The President has real concerns about it, as
we've described. He will share those concerns with the Europeans. They
will, obviously, have an opportunity to express their views. And he will
listen.

And I think since we have a basic common set of overall objectives, I think
we'll find a way forward that will be acceptable.